Fashion
At Google I/O the company introduced a web-based feature for smartphones that helps diagnose skin conditions. The feature uses AI (artificial intelligence) to detect dermatological conditions. The company also announced plans for its AI to be used by doctors for diagnosing breast cancer and tuberculosis as well.
Previously, Google shared a preview of the AI-powered dermatology assist tool, and now the official version is ready. The tool will be native for Google Search and use your phone’s camera to take three different pictures from various angles of the part of your body that you’re concerned with. The tool will not only work with skin, but also with nail and hair dermatological conditions.
After you take the pictures of the body area in question, you’ll be asked a couple of questions from the tool itself. These questions will regard your skin type, how long you’ve had the issue and if you’ve had any other symptoms. This will help the AI tool with your diagnosis.
The tool will show information for each matching condition and photographic examples, as well as official information from a dermatologist. It has 280 dermatology conditions in its database. It also uses many of the same techniques used to detect diabetic eye disease and lung cancer in CT scans.
Google says that the diagnosis from the tool is only a suggestion and its point is to give you more information. You should still seek medical help if you have a problem.
According to the company, each year they see around ten billion Google searches about skin, hair and nail conditions. Two billion people suffer from such issues worldwide. The new dermatology AI tool will be available in the EU at first later this year. It has passed clinical validation and is marked as a Class I medical device in the EU, but not yet in the USA.
